Congress is still likely to advance a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to take down the FCC’s ISP privacy rules and probably will do so the week of Feb. 27, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told us Thursday. She initially had expected a resolution as soon as this week (see 1702070074), which didn’t happen. “We’re working on it,” Blackburn said. “I had hoped to have it wrapped up by today but they’ve been busy with other things in the Senate.”
Congress is still likely to advance a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to take down the FCC’s ISP privacy rules and probably will do so the week of Feb. 27, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told us Thursday. She initially had expected a resolution as soon as this week (see 1702070074), which didn’t happen. “We’re working on it,” Blackburn said. “I had hoped to have it wrapped up by today but they’ve been busy with other things in the Senate.”
The TV incentive auction's assignment phase, in which winning bidders will bid for the actual spectrum blocks in which they will deploy service, is a relatively important part of the auction, said industry lawyers and analysts. The FCC released a public notice Tuesday on the final stage of the auction, saying bidding in the assignment phase will start March 6 and should be over by the end of the month (see 1702140064). Industry observers said the A and G blocks are expected to be the least attractive to winning bidders, especially in urban areas. Meanwhile, some broadcast consultants and a firm affiliated with Dell's founder met with Chairman Ajit Pai and others at the FCC.
State commissioners seek more certainty about where they fit into the telecom landscape, said NARUC Telecom Committee Chairman Paul Kjellander in an interview Wednesday at the group's meeting. Early decisions by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and congressional talk of a possible Telecom Act rewrite are good signs that clarity is coming, Kjellander said. As the meeting wrapped Wednesday, the board passed the three substantive telecom resolutions adopted Tuesday by the committee (see 1702140003).
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Wednesday introduced legislation that establishes rules governing when law enforcement agencies can access people's geolocation data without their knowledge, including information obtained by companies and through the use of cell-site simulators. During a Cato Institute event earlier in the day, Chaffetz noted he was planning to introduce the legislation. The event focused on the growing government use of the devices that mimic cellphone towers to locate people under investigation, which one civil liberties expert called a "disturbing trend.”
State commissioners seek more certainty about where they fit into the telecom landscape, said NARUC Telecom Committee Chairman Paul Kjellander in an interview Wednesday at the group's meeting. Early decisions by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and congressional talk of a possible Telecom Act rewrite are good signs that clarity is coming, Kjellander said. As the meeting wrapped Wednesday, the board passed the three substantive telecom resolutions adopted Tuesday by the committee (see 1702140003).
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Wednesday introduced legislation that establishes rules governing when law enforcement agencies can access people's geolocation data without their knowledge, including information obtained by companies and through the use of cell-site simulators. During a Cato Institute event earlier in the day, Chaffetz noted he was planning to introduce the legislation. The event focused on the growing government use of the devices that mimic cellphone towers to locate people under investigation, which one civil liberties expert called a "disturbing trend.”
The NARUC Telecom Committee cleared three resolutions highlighting states' role in telecom issues, at a business meeting Tuesday at the association’s winter meeting. The resolutions, passed on unanimous vote, stressed the importance of cooperative federalism in various telecom matters. One resolution on wireless siting got revisions from its original draft after industry raised concerns, but the others tracked closely with drafts released last month (see 1701310048). On an earlier small-cells panel, industry disagreed with state and local officials about the need for federal action.
Proposed National Highway Traffic Safety Administration guidelines on distracted driving typify the type of pending regulations that a Jan. 20 White House memo called on agencies to halt to afford the incoming Trump administration an opportunity to review them. So said CTA President Gary Shapiro in a letter Monday to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Mark Sandy, Office of Management and Budget acting director. CTA thinks the proposed guidelines “raise substantial questions of law and policy,” and therefore “merit a careful review” by DOT and OMB, as the White House memo prescribed, Shapiro said. “While NHTSA maintains that the proposed guidelines would be voluntary and nonbinding, in practice they could have a sweeping effect on the multibillion dollar market for mobile devices and apps.” In the letter, Shapiro repeated what he told the Senate Commerce Committee Feb. 1 when he testified that “by issuing guidelines on how smartphones, tablets and even wearable fitness devices function when near a driver, NHTSA has exceeded its authority and invited uncertainty and litigation” (see 1702010036).
Proposed National Highway Traffic Safety Administration guidelines on distracted driving typify the type of pending regulations that a Jan. 20 White House memo called on agencies to halt to afford the incoming Trump administration an opportunity to review them. So said CTA President Gary Shapiro in a letter Monday to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Mark Sandy, Office of Management and Budget acting director. CTA thinks the proposed guidelines “raise substantial questions of law and policy,” and therefore “merit a careful review” by DOT and OMB, as the White House memo prescribed, Shapiro said. “While NHTSA maintains that the proposed guidelines would be voluntary and nonbinding, in practice they could have a sweeping effect on the multibillion dollar market for mobile devices and apps.” In the letter, Shapiro repeated what he told the Senate Commerce Committee Feb. 1 when he testified that “by issuing guidelines on how smartphones, tablets and even wearable fitness devices function when near a driver, NHTSA has exceeded its authority and invited uncertainty and litigation” (see 1702010036).